Football Hallelujah!

Football is one of the planet’s most universal forms of entertainment attracting millions of devotees. Its stars and their excesses, its relationship with the world of money and politics, doesn’t seem to mar in any way the passion felt by supporters from all backgrounds. The many attributes that make up this universal game make up a human activity that goes beyond a simple sport to reflect individual and collective identities and the relationship between class and gender in our contemporary societies. This exhibition doesn’t engage in an extensive analysis of football’s main characters in order to decipher it but rather illuminates this spectator sport from a very particular angle: that of religion. Indeed Football Hallelujah! examines the beliefs and rituals surrounding football and the idea that the sport has become a world religion. Objects, videos and stories demonstrate the links between football and spirituality, the passion for players that borders on devotion, the preciously guarded relics and the magical rituals undertaken to gain a win from one’s team… This travelling exhibition has already been presented in Amsterdam, Basel, ­Bremen and Lyon and will, after its Luxembourg stop, travel on to Barcelona and Moscow. For its Luxembourg incarnation Football Hallelujah! has been endowed with a collection of local objects and testimonies of fans who express as much passion for the sport in Luxembourg as they do for the sport abroad.